The strength of Gaelic in these Barra communities was evident in that some non-speaking Gaelic settlers in the area became speakers and were integrated into the community. One such man was Thomas Bryden. Bryden came out from England and married a woman from Barra named Flora MacNeil (MacKenzie, 1984). Members of the third generation of this family were fluent in their grandmother MacNeil's language (Dunn, 1991). There are also reports of a few older Mi'kmaw (who likely lived at the adjacent First Nations community of Eskasoni) and Highland Scots speaking each other's languages (Dembling, 1991).
-- source: A Study of Gaelic Language and Culture in Cape Breton's Barra Gaidhealtachd ; A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education of Mount Saint Vincent University by Vincent MacNeil --